The strategy of spite is one of the most useful for bringing corruption to the surface in the media, and Telecinco has its hand broken. Mayte Zaldívar has been the leading figure since she went on air live in 2004, explaining how her ex-husband, Julián Muñoz, kept garbage bags full of bundles of bills at home. Resentful of the cuckolding the mayor of Marbella had put on her with Isabel Pantoja, she raised the hue and cry in one of the most high-profile cases of embezzlement of public funds and urban planning malfeasance in Spain. Two years later, Cachuli was imprisoned. On Monday, it was the turn of José Luis Ábalos's ex-wife, who opened her mouth, fed up with the deception and harassment of her former husband. The former Minister of Transport unsuccessfully tried to stop the broadcast through legal proceedings. Carolina Perles told a sordid and terrifying story of commissions, prostitutes, Viagra, parties, and drugs to supplement the precarious management of her portfolio as minister.
Ethical aspects aside, the figure of the ex-wife is a magnificent media catalyst. She becomes a voice that verifies the story: those who have shared the private space know details that do not belong in the public sphere. The story is more emotional and melodramatic with the added tension between truth and revenge. In the public eye, moreover, the role of the woman as victim is a pattern that adds blame to the corrupt: a bad politician, a worse husband, and a terrible father.
The price of corruption It also included an interview with Víctor de Aldama, the fixer and broker. He offered the details of someone who no longer has anything to lose. The story told by both protagonists was shocking and compatible. However, the answers were excessively edited and the sentences were fragmented, which easily created a direct and compelling plot. The script was clear and well-structured around the Ábalos-Koldo-Aldama corruption triangle. The names of Pedro Sánchez and Santos Cerdán were sporadic, appearing only in the final stretch of the program, when the discussion dragged everything into the realm of speculation.
The broadcast included clips from previous programs in which Ábalos had been interviewed or grotesque episodes involving prostitutes linked to the case had been reported. This demonstrated that the network has been insisting on this corruption case for years. The price of corruption It was the culmination of a long, very expeditious process to erode the PSOE and the government.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ábalos reacted by granting an interview to Risto Mejide. He accused his ex-wife of having succumbed to a tempting financial offer and asserted that her responses were the result of script and direction work with an obvious political bias. It cannot be denied that Telecinco's season opener has been a declaration of principles. On Monday morning, Ana Rosa Quintana began the season by politely interviewing Núñez Feijóo. And in the evening, the network signed off with Ábalos's ex-wife airing the dirty laundry of the Sánchez government with the promise of a sequel next week. Corruption by the chapter.
